The present invention relates to tissue culture dishes and more particularly to a dish having a plurality of wells in which tissue cultures may be grown for experimental or test purposes. Having such a plurality of wells for growth of separate cultures, a dish constructed according to the present invention provides the convenience of keeping together a number of correlated tests.
The dish of this invention is constructed of a clear transparent material, preferably plastic, for the facilitation of the viewing of the contents of each of the wells. The base of the dish has a rim which comes in contact with any supporting surface upon which the dish is placed. This rim is high enough for easy and secure grasping and holding by a user.
To guarantee continuous clear and undistorted viewing of the well contents, the well bottoms are flat and are located above the level at which the aforementioned base rim comes in contact with a supporting surface. This placement prevents contact between the well bottoms and the underlying surface and thereby reduces the possibility of scratching and soiling of the bottoms. The optical clarity of the well bottoms is further assured by the presence of ribs surrounding the well bottoms. These ribs prevent the scratching or soiling of the well bottoms that might arise out of contact with a user's fingers or hands.
The lid of the tissue culture dish has, like the base, a somewhat irregular profile when viewed from above. This feature guarantees that the lid can only be placed on the base in a single orientation and thereby reduces the possibility of inadvertent cross contamination of the contents of the various wells when the lid is removed during the running of a test or experiment.
The lid and base are constructed so that when in place on the base, the lid makes contact with the base only on small protrusions extending upwardly from the base. This feature assures that the atmosphere internal to any well is maintained with the same composition as the ambient atmosphere outside the tissue culture cluster dish.
The base is constructed without side walls on three sides; this further insures atmospheric communication between the wells and the ambient atmosphere and makes side viewing of the well contents somewhat clearer.
The lid has ridging extending down from the lower surface of its top. This ridging, when the lid is in place on the base, extends below the level at which the upper edges of the well walls lie. These ridges, which, along with sides of the lid, surround and segregate, from each other, the regions of the lower surface of the lid top lying above each of the wells prevent the transfer of condensed moisture from the region above one well to the region above any other. The ridges thereby reduce the likelihood of cross contamination of the wells due to tipping, etc.
A tissue culture cluster dish built according to this invention may have the further feature of numbering associated with the wells for ease in identification. For proper record keeping, a frosted area may be provided on the outside of the dish for the writing of data concerning the contents of the dish.
One object of the present invention is to provide a tissue culture dish having a plurality of wells for multiple or correlated tests or experiments.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a tissue culture dish with a plurality of wells in which communication between the interior of the wells and the outside atmosphere is assured even when the lid is in place.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a tissue culture dish having a plurality of wells, which is made of a transparent material for easy viewing of the contents of the wells.
A further object of this invention is to provide a tissue culture dish with a plurality of wells, the bottoms of each of which are flat and clear for easy and accurate viewing of the contents of each individual well.
Still a further object of this invention is to provide a tissue culture dish with well bottoms that are protected from scratching or soiling by contact with the surfaces on which the dish may be placed or by contact with a user's fingers or hands.
Another object of this invention is to provide a tissue culture dish, with a plurality of wells, in which the likelihood of cross contamination is reduced by having a lid which fits on the base in only one orientation.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a tissue culture dish, having a plurality of wells, in which the possibility of cross contamination is reduced by the presence in the lid of ridges which prevent the transfer of condensed moisture from the vicinity of one well to that of any other well.
A further object of this invention is to provide a tissue culture dish, having a plurality of wells, in which numbering is associated with each well for easy identification and on which a frosted area is provided for user notations.
These and other objects of the present invention will become clearer upon a consideration of the drawings and the detailed descriptions of particular embodiments of the present invention given below.